SPEECHES
FROM THE 2004 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
HOWARD DEAN
BOSTON, MA • JULY 27, 2004
Thank you very much. I was hoping — I
was hoping for a reception like this. I was just kind of
hoping it was going to be on Thursday night instead of Tuesday
night.
I may not be the nominee, but I can tell you this: For the
next 100 days, I’ll be doing everything that I can
to make sure that John Kerry and John Edwards take this country
back for the people who built it because — because
tonight — tonight we are all here to represent the
Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
I am proud of John Kerry’s leadership and I intend
to stand shoulder to shoulder with him as we fight for the
things that Harry Truman promised us in 1948: health insurance
for every single American, a jobs program that will create
jobs instead of destroy them, standing up for middle-class
and working Americans who got a tax increase not a tax cut,
and standing up for a foreign policy that relies on the president
of the United States telling the truth to the American people
before we send our brave soldiers to fight in a foreign war.
I’d like a commander in chief who supports our soldiers
and supports our veterans instead of cutting their hardship
pay abroad and cutting their health benefits when they get
back home.
I’m Howard Dean and I’m voting for John Kerry.
I’ve voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because
I’m tired of seeing hard-working Americans struggling
with jobs that pay less than they did four years ago. I’m
voting for John Kerry and John Edwards because I want a president
and vice president as good and as strong as the American
people. I’m voting for John Kerry and John Edwards
because I want to see an America that restored as the moral
leader of the world.
America’s greatness rests on far more than the power
of our arms. Our greatness is also measured by our goodness,
it’s in the capacity of our minds and of our hearts,
and it’s in the strength of our democracy. As I’ve
traveled America, I’ve seen that strength. I’ve
seen it in the people I’ve met, I’ve seen it
in their desire to take our country back to the American
people
I saw it in a college student in Pennsylvania who sold her
bicycle and sent us a check for $100 with a note that said,
I sold my bicycle for democracy. I saw it in a woman from
Iowa who handed me $50, all in quarters. She saved it from
her monthly disability check because she wanted to make America
well again. I saw it in a 19-year-old from Alabama who had
never been involved in politics before he got in his car
and drove to Vermont because he didn’t feel like anybody
was listening to him in Washington.
They learned that politics is too important to be left to
politicians. They didn’t just pack their bags, they
packed their hopes that we can take our country back. And
you know what? We will.
We are not going to be afraid to stand up for what we believe
in ever again. We are not going to let those who disagree
with us shout us down under a banner of false patriotism.
We are not going to give up a single voter or a single state
because we’re going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats
not just here in Boston, we’re going to be proud to
call ourselves Democrats in Mississippi.
We’re going to be proud to call ourselves Democrats
in Utah and Idaho. And we’re going to be proud to call
ourselves Democrats in Texas.
Never again will we ever be ashamed to call ourselves Democrats.
Never, never, never.
We’re not going to just change presidents in this
election, we’re going to change this country and we’re
going to reclaim the American dream.
To everyone — to everyone who supported me, you’ve
given me so much and I can’t thank you enough. This
was never about me, this was about us. This was about giving
new life to our party. This was about giving new energy to
our democracy and providing hope again for the greatest nation
on the face of the earth. And so today, even though you’ve
already given so much, I want to ask you to give one more
thing: I want you to give American President John Kerry.
Together — together — together we can take our
country back and only you have the power to make it happen.
You have the power, you have the power, you have the power
to make it happen.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very
much. Thank you very much.
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